Public Private Partnerships On Fast Track
August 28th, 2009
Finance Minister Bill English says NZ is a decade behind other countries in using public-private partnerships to accelerate, manage risk, and get value for money from big national infrastructure investments. He says the Govt is set to make extensive use of PPPs, in which private investors share in both the risks and upside of building public infrastructure.
English says as a “late starter” with PPPs, NZ can adopt world best practice and learn from others’ experience, especially Aust, to catch up a “lost decade” in which PPPs have been shunned for political reasons. He’s hoping the Aust experience will allow _”a more sophisticated debate” about the use of PPPs than has so far occurred.
English says since 2000, around 50 major PPP projects worth about $30bn have been completed in Aust, ranging from the traditional road, rail, water and energy, through to areas such as defence facilities, hospitals, schools, prisons and radio networks. Total Aust infrastructure spending is almost 5% of GDP.
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